Reddit’s Q and A with an ISIS terrorist: Inside the mind of a Jihadist

Erik Skaarsgard – European Correspondent

Editors note: Content Warning!

The following excerpts and answers are graphic and contain references to torture, murder, genocide, and other atrocities. The views expressed by the ISIS militant in no way align with those held by The Global Quorum editors nor contributors.

The following article contains topics that are disturbing in nature.

Reader’s discretion is highly advised.

A photo of Isralif Yilmaz, fighting in Syria. note the Islamic State Arm-band. the photo was from his Instagram account which was suspended.

Blogging from the Islamic State

In 2015, something unique happened. A Dutch jihadist in Syria held a Q and A session on Reddit’s “casual I am A” sub-Reddit. The post itself is unique – a chance for the largely Western online community to question and talk with an Islamic State (IS) fighter, and the responses were a unique insight into why someone would give up their comfortable European lifestyle to fight in the Middle East.

The post is from a former soldier who served within the Turkish and Dutch armed forces. Israfil Yilmaz, a Dutch citizen of Turkish descent, left his career in the Royal Netherlands Army in 2013 to join rebel groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. During the fighting he was radicalised and would record his journey via social media.

As the United States and its allies clamped down on the digital footprint of Islamic State fighters, Mr. Yilmaz, who was a prolific blogger, had his Twitter and Instagram accounts suspended. This may have prompted the fighter to hold the Reddit “AmA”, or ask me anything.

The post received thousands of “down-votes”, Reddit’s community driven feed-back mechanism that is used to rank posts. It was not, however, taken down, and received hundreds of comments. We’ve gone through the questions and his answers to give you an intimate look into why someone would want to fight for the so-called Islamic State.

Morbidly, Mr. Yilmaz’s stated that he wanted to do the AMA “before I get blocked/banned or droned to death”. He was killed by a coalition drone-strike that reportedly used the AMA’s IP address to target Mr. Yilmaz.

Isralif Yilmaz’s verification photo.

On leaving for the Islamic State:

Nobody knew I was planning on going to Syria when I first came here 3 years ago, not my closest friends not my mother. A grown man doesn’t need approval from his mother or friends to wage Jihad and protect the Muslims.

On what the ultimate goals of the Islamic State are, and the rape of women and children:

Fighting to implement the Shariah of Allah (SWT).

Fight them the way they fight you, and taking the woman and the children as spoils of war is also permitted in times of war.

Angry much :-)..?

Yilmaz’s answer evokes a flurry of angry responses. The original questioner, /u/dogersbenny is not impressed by his response.

/u/dodgersbenny pities Yilmaz:

But I don’t fight you. Spoils of war? Women and children man… How did you get to be so brainwashed? I feel sad for you. I’m not angry, you’re the one with hate in your heart

Yilmaz’s response:

Islam is a religion that doesn’t change like us people do, it’s set and will be the exact same way it first started till the end of times. Taking slaves might sound inhumane to you but in essence it’s a mercy from our Lord, for they have rights and are to be treated justly. And many of them become Muslim. Isn’t that better than killing all of them? Or stuffing them in jails and dungeons? Think about it grasshopper 🙂 And maybe one day you’ll understand.

Yilmaz with an unidentified fighter in Syria. Source: Mr. Yilmaz’s former Instagram feed.

Question from a US Service member:

I work with several [M]uslims, and I know two very well. They are great people, smart, kind, funny, confident, and loyal. They denounce the acts of IS, on the grounds of it not being in line with Muslim core-teachings. But mostly that, even if it was, it offends them to the core. When you see the atrocities being committed by your brothers (and possibly you), does it not affect you? Do you see it as justified or necessary? Or do you see nothing wrong with it at all?

Mr.Yilmaz carefully dodges any allegations of atrocities in his answer.

Answer:

Not everybody who claims to be a Muslim actually understands the core meaning of being a Muslim (in all aspects of life), and thus it’s normal for those people to look at us and call us a bunch of barbarians while all that we are doing is implementing the same beliefs they claim to believe in. If they would truly understand Islam and live according to it their attitude towards us would be very different.

[…]

Nations greater in power and stronger than the United States have been destroyed in the past, they just like yourself thought that they were untouchable, strong and everlasting – but when our Lord Wills it’s end game for the United States as a superpower and maybe you’ll live long enough to witness it for yourself. And yes our ultimate goal is always Martyrdom for the sake of our Lord, but that could be today or tomorrow or even 20 years from now only God knows.

Related Coverage:

I read this chat log with a guy that blew himself up, and he seemed all excited about paradise and chilling with his wife up there. But then I read about how widows of fighters were wed to other fighters. So I was wondering how that was supposed to work.. If one of you blows himself up, and his bride gets passed on to another guy, how does that work in paradise? Do the two guys have to share her? Does she double up? How about if a girl blows up herself and the dude gets another wife?

Answer:

He will have many maidens of Paradise and will also marry women from this world – and if his wife doesn’t remarry after him and obtains Paradise they will be together. If she remarries that right goes to her new husband according to the stronger opinions.

And Allah (SWT) knows best.

/u/henhouse33 response:

Well, that’s pretty fucked up, so dude n1 blow himself up expecting to see his wife up there and he gets there and she’s with dude n2? and dude n1 just has to bear that for all eternity? Man.. If I were to die early, I hope my wife finds new love, I really do, but I sure as hech hope I don’t come back then, bwerk, The whole thing with the virgins seems so tacky.. If I sell my house I could probably fly to Birma or something and buy a bunch of maidens to do my every bidding.. but why? I wouldn’t trade my life with my wife and my kids for anything, and surely not for some eternal Club Med sultan harem sex fest.. sure, sounds great, but what if you’ve been doing it for 6802487 centuries.. with no end in sight.

Answer:

Eternal bliss, and joy, and happiness. No words can describe Paradise, no person can comprehend what Allah (SWT) has made ready for his righteous slaves. What no heart has ever felt, what no eyes have ever seen or ears have ever heard. Paradis my friend… Paradise is something else, only God knows 🙂

Yilmaz’s tumblr had a wide following before it was taken down. He also liked Instagram filters.

A question by /u/brainmover on the destruction of the historical ruins of Palmyra:

What’s the point of destroying historical sites like Palmyra? They’re a living memory of the past of humanity. Even if you don’t accept those religions, why destroying them? What’s the harm? Nobody believes in those ancient cults anymore or used those sites for worship.

Answer:

This world was created by Allah (SWT) and belongs to Him – there is no place for any other idol or so called god to be worshipped, be it now or ages ago – thus the Muslims destroy these places and take pride in doing so.

Fighting in war-torn Syria. Source: Yilmaz’s former Instagram

A question on sex-slaves (Sabaya) in the Islamic State:

Do you own a sabaya? Have you in the past?

Why not? Would your wife be against it?

Surely some of your friends do, right?

Answer:

One does not need the approval of his wife to own or purchase a saby. Yeah I have friends who own slaves. Nothing special about it?

You need a bag of money to own a decent one.

Healthy, virgin, young, obedient etc. Yes

Mr. Yilmaz stands atop a captured BMP, armoured personnel transport.

On why Islam is the “best” religion:

It’s the last and final religion and so is its messenger, the last and final not for a specific people in a specific time but for all of mankind for all times to come.

On why innocent people have been murdered by Islamic State:

The people who got killed by IS were given an ultimatum, yet their governments never took it serious and played the whole “we don’t negotiate with terrorist” game and their citizens payed the ultimate price for it.

If their governments would have done what IS wanted from them (stop your aggression against the Islamic State) they would be free and back with their families.

On the murder of International Hostages:

If they [foreign governments] would really care for their citizens they could have gotten them back to their families in a blink of an eye 🙂 State put 2 prisoners for sale just the other day, no government in the world gave a #### (they hardly ever do, they just release fancy statements after they get slaughtered).

An un-named fighter in Syria.

A question on why Terrorism is a valid tool against the “West”:

Even if we would leave them alone, would they ever leave us alone? Not as long as we fight to establish the Shariah and fight corruption and evil on this earth. Continuously turning the other cheek with the West doesn’t work, you hit them where it hurts the most: back home where people wake up and demand their governments to leave us to our own affairs.

On what it’s like to fight against the U.S. led coalition:

Almost every battle becomes intense with predator drones, F16s, B1s and AC130s in the air trying to wipe you out – you should try it 🙂

Airstrikes have done their part in this Jihad, but for every brother they kill, Allah (SWT) replaces him with someone else. They killed heaps and heaps of Mujahideen in Afghanistan in Iraq and elsewhere and still we are here and fighting 🙂 These are the soldiers of Allah (SWT) Obama and his minions have chosen to fight.

Good luck wasting your energy.

They drop bombs and rip their enemies to pieces from the skies, we do the same but in a slightly different fashion. It’s called war, and war is not pretty.

IS is already facing a large coalition of Crusaders, you think a couple of rebel groups would make any difference? It would just push us to fight harder.

A war criminal by any other name

Isralif Yilmaz was by no means an innocent. The New York Times reported his support for the Friday November 13th terrorist attacks in Paris which claimed the lives of 130 people as a “fair response” to the strikes on Islamic State in Syria.

In more disturbing comments, Mr. Yilmaz joked about how gay men deserved to be ‘thrown off a high building”.

Mr. Yilmaz was killed in an airstrike on Raqqa on September September 5th, 2016.